Kelowna firefighters get rid of huge box of needles

KELOWNA – Firefighters were called out Saturday to dispose of an enormous cache of syringes discovered by a man near Clement Avenue.

When they arrived, Kelowna Fire Department platoon captain Tim Light said firefighters discovered a cardboard box with an estimated 2,000 syringes inside it, sitting inside a shopping cart.

Adam Hamilton, a local resident who called in the find, called it “horrific” and blamed it on careless injection drug users.

However, Light said the source of the needles was unclear.

“We wouldn’t make that assumption,” he added. “It could have been a diabetic who saved up their used syringes. That’s a lot of syringes in one place.”

What is clear is what happened to them next.

After tipping over the box, Light said firefighters shovelled them into a couple of sharps boxes, a five-gallon pail and a 15-gallon plastic tub before taking them to Kelowna General Hospital for destruction.

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